


Water You Wading For? Rewritten

by sarahgirl1998



Series: HTF sneezefics [49]
Category: Happy Tree Friends
Genre: Comedy, Gen, Humor, Lumpy from Happy Tree Friends Sneezes, Male Sneezing, Revenge, Sick Character, Sneezing, Sneezing from Pepper, Sneezing from a Cold, Tickling, Torture, twist ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-19 11:55:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22777342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahgirl1998/pseuds/sarahgirl1998
Summary: Cuddles disobeys Flaky's warning about the dangerous inhabitants of a pond, then teams up with her to give them a taste of their own medicine.Fun fact: Of all of the stories that I enjoyed writing, this is not one of them. I only wrote it because it was requested. I'm so sorry :(
Series: HTF sneezefics [49]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/646829
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

It was a hot summer day in the forest where the Happy Tree Friends lived - the temperatures had climbed over a hundred. This was the kind of day that made Cuddles decide he needed to go for a swim.

After he’d put on some sunblock to keep himself from getting sunburned, Cuddles headed out of his house and went on his way to the pond. And on his way there, he met up with Flaky, who was helping herself to a cool bottle of water.

“Hey, Flaky!” said Cuddles.

“Oh, hi, Cuddles,” Flaky replied. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to the pond for a swim,” said Cuddles.

Flaky gasped in horror as she placed her hand over her mouth. Cuddles raised an eyebrow at her.

“What’s wrong?” Cuddles asked.

“I wouldn’t go to the pond if I were you...” Flaky mentioned.

“And why wouldn’t you?”

“There’s alligators that can make Tree Friends sneeze until they get sick!” Flaky warned. “And sea lions that’ll tickle you for ages, and worst of all: octopuses that’ll make you sneeze AND tickle you for ages!”

But Cuddles just looked at her. It looked like he didn’t believe a word she said.

“I’ve heard all that stuff before,” Cuddles said. “It’s pretty much just a rumor.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Cuddles nodded. “I’m gonna go there now. See ya!”

The two of them went their separate ways, with Flaky watching him go with worry.

After a few minutes, Cuddles arrived at the pond. He removed his slippers from his feet, then dipped one of his feet into the water. The temperature far cooler than it had been outside, Cuddles jumped in and started swimming to his heart’s content.

“This is sure a great way to cool off,” Cuddles thought to himself. “What could possibly go wrong?”

Not long after he’d started swimming, however, a glowing pair of eyes appeared in the water, followed by a few more. When Cuddles least expected it, they popped up to reveal their true selves: a few alligators, sea lions and octopi.

Cuddles looked to the side for a moment, only for his eyes to widen and pupils to shrink in horror. Flaky hadn’t been exaggerating.

“What the...?!”

One of the alligators gave him an evil smile and held out its clawed hands for him to see. Cuddles tried to get up and leave, but the gator caught him and held him with one hand before he could get away. The gator held Cuddles up to its face, then pulled out a pepper shaker, which it began to shake into Cuddles’ face.

“Hey!! Aaah, haaaah...” Cuddles inhaled as his nose twitched, and then he began to sneeze. “AHHHHH-CHOOO!! AAAH-TCHOOOO!! HAAAH-CHUUU!!! Haaaah-CHOOOOOO!!”

The alligators laughed menacingly as they watched Cuddles sneeze. A few minutes later, the one that was pouring pepper him thought he’d had enough - but instead of letting him go, it held Cuddles toward the sea lions.

One of them grabbed a feather and began to stroke it against Cuddles’ sides, causing him to laugh uncontrollably. It also tickled his belly every few seconds, which made him laugh even more. He just couldn’t stand it, he begged for it to stop, but it kept going.

Finally, when the sea lion had had enough of tickling Cuddles, it let the lead alligator know with a couple of barks. The alligator gave a whistle towards the lead octopus, causing it to appear behind it, and then tossed Cuddles right into its arms. To Cuddles’ horror, the octopus was holding both feathers and pepper shakers in its arms.

“No... Please!” Cuddles begged, but the octopus responded by throwing some pepper into his face. Cuddles immediately sneezed again. “AHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOO!!!!”

That was what kicked off the most agonizing combination of sneeze torture and tickle torture Cuddles had ever been through. The octopus was tickling all of Cuddles’ sensitive spots and listening to his uncontrollable laughter when it wasn’t savoring his sneezes. The alligators and sea lions watched in complete amusement, letting the octopus know whether they wanted to see Cuddles sneeze more or laugh harder.

After almost an hour, Cuddles couldn’t take it anymore. It was really tough to do, but he finally got away from the pond - picking up his slippers as he did so - and ran home as fast as he could. When he got there, he shut the door behind him and stood in front of it, panting uncontrollably.

“My gosh...” Cuddles said to himself. “That was a nightmare! I...”

Before he could say anything more, his nose tickled again, a sign that he still needed to sneeze. He tried to hold it back, but his nose was just so sensitive that he couldn’t help but explode with three giant sneezes.

“Aaaah... AAAAAH... HAAAAAHHHHH-- CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! TCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! AAAAAAHHHHH-CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!”

“Ugh...” Cuddles sulked as he rubbed his red nose with his forefinger. “And now I’ve caught a cold.”

He climbed up the stairs, weakly headed into his bedroom and crawled into his bed. He stayed there for a few minutes, thinking about what he had done.

“Why didn’t I believe Flaky?” Cuddles asked himself. “I can’t believe she was right... I gotta call her and ask her to take care of me.”

With a loud sniffle, Cuddles reached over to his smartphone and called Flaky’s phone number. While he was waiting for her to answer, he gave another monstrous sneeze that he thought would have caused Flaky to cringe.

“Hello?” his friend’s voice finally said.

“Hey, Flaky?” Cuddles asked, rubbing his nose with his forefinger. “I don’t feel so good...”

“Oh, you don’t? Would you like me to come take care of you?”

“Yes, please...” Cuddles gave a loud sniffle. “As for why I got sick, let’s just say that what I thought was a rumor wasn’t really a rumor after all.”

“Okay, Cuddles.”

“Thanks.” Cuddles then hung up his phone and put it aside, then waited for the arrival of his friend.

After a few minutes, Flaky finally arrived. The first thing she heard was another one of Cuddles’ massive sneezes - which, as Cuddles feared, did make her cringe. When she opened the door to his bedroom, he was still in bed, rubbing his nose with his forefinger.

“Hey, Cuddles. And bless you,” said Flaky.

“Flaky, I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you,” Cuddles said, still rubbing his nose.

“It’s alright, Cuddles. How about I make you some honey lemon tea to help you feel better?”

Cuddles nodded, and then sneezed again - this time, it was much less powerful and practically inaudible. Flaky handed him a box of tissues and then went downstairs to prepare his tea, while Cuddles wiped his nose.

After a few minutes, Cuddles’ tea was ready, and Flaky served it to him. While he was drinking it, Cuddles reiterated his mistake.

“If I knew it was going to be true, I wouldn’t have gone there in the first place... I’m gonna have to take truly drastic measures to make those monsters stop once and for all.”

“And how are you gonna do that?” Flaky asked.

Cuddles narrowed his eyes. “We need to give them a taste of their own medicine.”


	2. Chapter 2

A few days later, Cuddles had recovered from his cold. He and Flaky had spent most of it talking about a way to get back at the sea creatures at the pond anyway. By the time he was feeling better, they had come up with the perfect solution.

He and Flaky headed to the pond, with both of them having a paper bag in their hands.

“Are you sure about this, Cuddles?” Flaky asked, and Cuddles nodded.

“Trust me, it’ll work.”

Cuddles dipped his foot into the water and made some splashes - and before long, the creatures from before had reappeared. The lead alligator tried to grab Cuddles and Flaky - the latter of whom was covering her eyes in horror - but Cuddles pulled out a pepper shaker from his bag. Without a word, he began to shake the pepper directly into the alligators’ faces.

What followed was a fit of arguably the most massive and dramatic sneezes Flaky had ever heard.

Flaky uncovered her eyes, a bit terrified that the alligators were sneezing as loudly as they were. But now she had seen her chance to turn the tables as well. The sea lions tried to tickle her and Cuddles, but Flaky pulled out a feather and started tickling the sea lions, which caused them to laugh quite a lot.

Finally, the octopi emerged, with their feathers and pepper shakers in their tentacles. They tried to use the pepper first, but Cuddles threw a good amount of pepper from his own shaker at them, causing them to have a sneezing fit of their own. And while they were doing this, Flaky started tickling them as well, so they were sent into fits of both laughter and sneezing.

After a long few minutes, Cuddles and Flaky decided that they had had enough. The sea lions and octopi were panting for breath, and the alligators were rubbing their noses miserably.

“You liked that?!” Cuddles asked, but all of the sea creatures shook their heads in denial.

“In that case, we’ll never do that again, but you have to promise you won’t bother us again, okay?” Flaky asked.

All of the creatures nodded in promise, and then Cuddles and Flaky smiled, said their goodbyes and left the pond.

The next day, Cuddles and Flaky met up with their friends at the pond, including Giggles, Toothy, Lumpy, Sniffles, Russell, and Lifty and Shifty who actually didn’t want to go swimming, but still wanted to be with their friends.

Cuddles and Flaky told them everything.

“WHAT?!” Lifty and Shifty cried in disbelief, Lifty jumping into Shifty’s arms.

“Oh, no way!” Lumpy said, also looking like he couldn’t believe it.

“Oh, my goodness...” Giggles said in shock.

“That’s crazy!” Toothy said.

“Aye, crazy it be,” Russell replied.

“Well, at least nobody will have to worry about having to deal with those creatures...” said Lumpy.

“And great job for making them agree to stop, guys,” Sniffles said with a smile. “What say we dive in now?”

Everyone agreed - including Lifty and Shifty, probably because they changed their minds - and entered the water and splashed each other playfully. But within seconds, Lumpy’s throat started to ache, and his nose started to tickle strongly.

“Ughhh...” Lumpy groaned as he held his head in one hand, and then inhaled as he was about to sneeze. “Aaaah... Haaaaah...”

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-SSSSSSHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!”

And so came one of the biggest, loudest and most dramatic sneezes that the Tree Friends had ever heard. Everyone looked at him at first, but then laughed over it, not knowing that Lumpy’s nose was a very deep red.

“Nice try, Lumpy, but you can’t make us think this pond’s still dangerous!” Lifty mentioned.

Lumpy could only whimper as he rubbed his poor nose with his forefinger. Not long afterward, however, Shifty didn’t feel so good, either.

“Oh, God...” Shifty rubbed his aching head, then coughed loudly onto Lifty. “Why does this have to be so cold?!”

“Don’t blame me!” Lifty replied, also not feeling good - not only because Shifty had coughed on him, but because the water was giving him symptoms as well. He sniffled loudly. “God, it feels like the water in the snow levels in Mario 64...”

Lumpy stepped out of the pond, still rubbing his nose and sniffling loudly.

“M-maybe there’s still some pepper or feathers or something in this pond...?” Lumpy theorized, not knowing he was absolutely right.

Lifty and Shifty just looked at him, completely unamused.

“Lumpy, listen. If you say one more crazy thing like that, I will personally--“ Shifty couldn’t finish his threat, because he needed to sneeze, badly. Coincidentally, Lifty needed to sneeze, too.

“Aaaaaah-HAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-- TCHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

Released in unison, their sneezes weren’t nearly as massive as Lumpy’s sneeze - but it was enough to blow them out of the pond and back onto land. They lay where they were for a moment, then sat up, rubbing their noses with their forefingers.

“Dang, he’s not even wrong...” Shifty mentioned.

“Nope.” Lifty sniffled.

Lumpy stayed where he was and watched as everyone else went back to what they were doing. Lumpy coughed loudly into his hand, and then placed it on his head, which felt very hot. He looked at his reflection in the water, finally seeing that his nose was a bright red shade, still feeling runny and stuffed up.

He’d caught a cold from the substances in the pond. And Lifty and Shifty might have caught a cold, too.

Lumpy could only whimper in dawning comprehension.


	3. Alternate Ending

The next day, Cuddles and Flaky met up with their friends at the pond, including Giggles, Toothy, Lumpy, Petunia, Sniffles and Russell.

Cuddles and Flaky told them everything.

“Oh!” Petunia placed her hand over her mouth in disbelief.

“Oh, no way!” Lumpy said, also looking like he couldn’t believe it.

“Oh, my goodness...” Giggles said in shock.

“That’s crazy!” Toothy said.

“Aye, crazy it be,” Russell replied.

“Well, at least nobody will have to worry about having to deal with those creatures...” said Lumpy.

“And great job for making them agree to stop, guys,” Sniffles said with a smile. “What say we dive in now?”

Everyone agreed and entered the water and splashed each other playfully. But within seconds, Lumpy’s throat started to ache, and his nose started to tickle strongly.

“Ughhh...” Lumpy groaned as he held his head in one hand, and then inhaled as he was about to sneeze. “Aaaah... Haaaaah...”

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-SSSSSSHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!”

And so came one of the biggest, loudest and most dramatic sneezes that the Tree Friends had ever heard. Everyone looked at him at first, but then laughed over it, not knowing that Lumpy’s nose was a very deep red.

“Oh, Lumpy! You and your giant sneezes!” said Petunia.

Lumpy could only whimper as he rubbed his poor nose with his forefinger. Not long afterward, however, Petunia felt a particularly strong tickle in her nose as well.

“W-what the...?” she said aloud, although she was talking to herself.

Before even five seconds had gone by, everybody else - except Lumpy - had an identical tickle in their noses. They all inhaled, then sneezed massively as well.

“Aaaaah... Aaaaaaaahhhhhh... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

All of the sneezes, released in unison, echoed all throughout the forest. Lumpy was actually really surprised when he heard them, but he couldn’t comment.

Cuddles and Flaky stood where they were, the former a bit exhausted and the latter embarrassed, as they rubbed their noses with their forefingers.

“Ugh... bless ya, Flaky,” said Cuddles.

“Thanks. Bless you, too,” said Flaky.

Sniffles and Russell were rubbing their noses as well; Sniffles could see that Russell was using his non-hooked hand to do so.

“Ugh... Gesundheit,” said Sniffles with a sniffle.

“Thank ye. And bless ye, Sniffles.”

Giggles, Petunia and Toothy were rubbing their noses as well; Petunia was using her arm to do so while the other two were using their forefingers.

“Bless you, guys...” said Petunia.

“Thank you. And bless you,” said Giggles.

“Yeah. Bless you,” Toothy replied.

“I wonder why we all sneezed. I could’ve sworn this pond was totally safe now that those mean creatures were gone,” Cuddles mentioned.

“That’s strange,” said Flaky. “I guess we’ll never know...”

Lumpy stayed where he was and watched as everyone else went back to what they were doing. Lumpy coughed loudly into his hand, and then placed it on his head, which felt very hot. He looked at his reflection in the water, finally seeing that his nose was a bright red shade, still feeling runny and stuffed up.

He’d caught a cold from the substances in the pond. And maybe everyone else was catching a cold, too.

Lumpy could only whimper in dawning comprehension.


End file.
